politics
President Turns to UFC Fighter for Validation on Iran Conflict Progress
The president hosted UFC fighters in the Oval Office and asked one competitor whether the U.S. position against Iran could be described as being in good shape. The fighter agreed with the assessment. The comments followed a Reuters report citing a U.S. intelligence assessment that the bombing campaign had done little to slow Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
May 6, 4:28 PM·2m read1 source
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The president hosted a group of UFC fighters in the Oval Office on Wednesday and turned to one of them for an opinion on the state of the conflict with Iran. Asked why he remained optimistic about reaching a deal to end the two-month-old war, the president repeated statements about the damage to Tehran’s conventional military forces.
He said it would take Iran two decades to rebuild what had been lost to American strikes since February 28. He then asked fighter Justin Gaethje whether that situation would be called being in good shape. ” The president repeated that the U.S. was in good shape and added that talks with Tehran had been very good over the last 24 hours.
He said it was now very possible that a deal would be reached. The president compared Iranian negotiators to the fighters behind him, saying both sides showed great pride that sometimes prevented them from acknowledging previous agreements. He stated that if a deal is not reached, a bigger step would be required but that Iran wants to make a deal.
The president also spoke at length about a U.S. operation that removed the former leader of Venezuela. He noted that stock market values are higher now than when the air campaign against Iran began on February 28. Oil prices have reached $100 per barrel rather than the $200 or $250 he said he had feared, although gasoline prices in the U.S. have risen to near-record levels after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.
He added that military action had been necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The comments came one day after the secretary of state told reporters that the U.S. bombing campaign, called Operation Epic Fury, was over. The secretary said the new phase, called Project Freedom, was a defensive operation to protect about 23,000 civilian mariners from 87 countries who were stranded on ships in the Gulf.
